Josh Duggar

Joshua James Duggar (born March 3, 1988) is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality.

The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, spun off from a series of television specials.

Josh Duggar was born on March 3, 1988, in the city of Tontitown in Washington County, Arkansas, to James Robert and Michelle Annette Ruark Duggar.

For most of his youth, Duggar was homeschooled and passed Arkansas's state test for a general equivalency diploma at the age of 16.

Although he spoke of attending law school to become an attorney, Duggar ultimately did not end up attending college.

His parents said they learned of Josh's sexually abusive behavior in March 2002.

Josh was disciplined at home following an admission in July 2002 that he had molested one of his sisters.

The confession was not reported to police.

In March 2003, the parents learned of additional incidents and victims, and Jim Bob brought the issue to their church elders.

Starting in 2005, Duggar appeared on a number of reality television shows about his family, beginning with a program on Discovery Health when he was aged 17.

Duggar has also been active in conservative politics; while running a car dealership he worked as a part-time political consultant in 2007 under the business name Strategic Political Services.

The most prominent of these programs was the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which debuted in September 2008.

In 2008, he worked on the Republican presidential primary campaign of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Duggar's wedding was featured in an episode broadcast on January 25, 2009, which included the planning, preparation, rehearsal, ceremony and reception.

Duggar and his wife have stated they saved their first kiss for their wedding day.

Multiple episodes document Duggar's children, including: "GrandDuggar's First Birthday", airing December 7, 2010, where Duggar celebrates his daughter Mackynzie's first birthday and announces the expected birth of their second child; "First Grandson", airing June 19, 2011, which featured Duggar and his wife introducing their second child, Michael James; and "GrandDuggar Makes 3!", airing June 16, 2013, a Father's Day special introducing the Duggars' third baby, Marcus Anthony.

In 2012, Duggar addressed rallies for the Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Duggar served as the executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council, from June 2013 to May 2015.

He resigned from the position after he was reported to have molested multiple underage girls, including four of his siblings, when he was aged between 12 and 16.

A special titled "Josh & Anna: Our Story" aired on October 22, 2013, reviewed the couple's first five years of marriage.

From June 2013 to May 2015, he was executive director of FRC Action, a political action and lobbying organization sponsored by the Family Research Council.

When describing his position with the organization, he stated that he would be focused on "engaging the grassroots and taking the message of faith, family and freedom all across America".

FRC president Tony Perkins said that by hiring Duggar they hoped to appeal to more young people by tapping into the popularity of 19 Kids and Counting.

He further stated, "The big part of Josh's focus is going to be building our grass-roots across the country".

While working at FRC Action, conservative Republican candidates valued Duggar as a way to advance their messages to his constituents.

He campaigned for Senate candidates in Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia before the 2014 midterm elections.

Duggar described his family as the "epitome of conservative values" and advocated for what he termed "family-centered" and conservative Christian viewpoints, including opposition to abortion, divorce, and gay marriage.

He has been referred to as an "anti-gay activist" by GLAAD, a pro-LGBT rights organization.

Josh touched the breasts and genital region of his sisters on multiple occasions while they were sleeping, and sometimes when they were awake.

Four of the molestation victims were Duggar's siblings: he had reached under the dress of a younger sister who was in his lap, cornered a sister in the laundry room to reach under her clothing, and touched a much younger sister, who, according to the Duggars, "didn't understand she had been improperly touched".

The fifth victim was a babysitter.

These revelations led to the swift cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting on July 16, 2015.

The consequent fallout was named one of the "10 Big Scandals of 2015" by USA Today, and The Washington Post listed Duggar as one of the fifteen most hated people on the Internet for that year.

While the family returned in the Counting On spin-off, Duggar did not take part in the production of the new series.

On April 29, 2021, Duggar was arrested by U.S. Marshals on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.

He was found guilty on all charges on December 9, 2021.

He was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on May 25, 2022.

Duggar and his wife announced the expected birth of their fourth child on an episode titled "Anna's Having A...", which aired May 12, 2015.

The episode included the Duggars announcing the ultrasound showed they were having another girl.

When Duggar was a teenager, his father, Jim Bob Duggar, was a two-term Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives.